The Coven

Written by Harper L. Woods, The Coven (2023) is the first book in Woods’s Coven of Bones series, which focuses on the life and education of 20-year-old Willow Madizza. Willow’s dual nature as a Green witch and a necromancer (or Black witch) fulfills a centuries-old prophecy that affects the fate of all witches and demons, including Lucifer himself. Willow’s magical duality also emphasizes the balance of opposites found in everything and everyone. When she is drawn to the mysterious headmaster of Hollow’s Grove Academy, a creature whom she is tasked with seducing and killing, her choices highlight the tension between duty and desire and explore the ruinous effects of the cycle of revenge.

On her website, Woods, a New York Times bestselling fantasy romance author, describes The Coven as a “gothic, dark academia, paranormal romance” (“Coven of Bones.” Adelaide Forrest & Harper L. Woods). She is also known by the pseudonym Adelaide Forrest, the name under which Woods writes her dark romances. To date, Woods/Forrest has published a range of romance series, including the Massacred Dreams, Of Flesh and Bone, and Bellandi Crime Syndicate series.

This guide refers to the 2024 hardcover edition produced by Tor Publishing Group.

Content Warning: Woods provides a list of content and trigger warnings, including depictions of “rough and explicit sexual content,” consent violations, “ritualistic murder,” “forced feeding,” and graphic violence and abuse.

Plot Summary

Alaric Grayson Thorne, or “Gray,” is a Vessel: a human-looking body that houses a demon’s soul. His Vessel was created 329 years ago, and he is now the headmaster of Hollow’s Grove, a magic university led by two witches and their Coven. These two witches, Susannah Madizza and George Collins, were resurrected from the dead by Charlotte Hecate, the first witch in the Coven to receive power from the devil. They are now skeletons and are collectively referred to as the Covenant, but they also lead the Tribunal, a ruling body that usually consists of two witches of each kind—crystal, cosmic, earth, air, water, sex, and fire—and one necromancer. The Coven believes that a young witch named Willow Madizza is the last Green (earth) witch in her line. Although Willow’s mother, Flora, faked her own death and hid Willow from the Covenant, the wards protecting Willow and her half-brother, Ash, dissolve when Flora dies. 

Willow prepares Ash to go and live with his human father, and the boy only learns that he is a witch after Flora dies. (All male witches are forced to choose between keeping their magic or preserving their ability to father children, and Willow tries to prevent Ash from having to make this choice.) Likewise, Willow’s father, Samuel—who is Charlotte Hecate’s descendant—was once saved from this choice by his sister, Loralei, who hid him and was murdered at Hollow’s Grove 50 years ago. The Coven does not know that Samuel exists, nor are they aware that Willow is a descendant of Charlotte Hecate; the Covenant believes that Hecate’s line died with Loralei.

Enraged by Loralei’s murder, Samuel raised Willow to exact revenge on the Vessels and the Covenant. He insisted that Willow preserve her virginity in order to ensnare Gray, and he physically trained her, abusively punishing her whenever she fell short of his expectations. Now, Willow’s mission is to seduce Gray, to learn where Loralei’s bones are kept, and to use these bones to take power. Soon, Gray and his fellow Vessels, Juliet and Kairos, arrive to take Willow to Hollow’s Grove, and the sexual tension between Willow and Gray is palpable.

When she arrives, Willow makes a blood offering to revive the dying courtyard plants. She explains that because the earth provides her with magic, she is obligated to replenish the earth with her blood. Afterward, Willow is so weak that Gray carries her to her room. That night, he sneaks in, finding her asleep and still fully dressed. He senses her discomfort and removes her jeans with the intention of putting her into pajamas, but he fears he might lose control of himself, so he leaves.

Willow learns what Gray did; the next day, she baits him seductively. The two have a mutual attraction, but he thinks of Willow as a “temptation,” while she is bound by her secret duty to destroy the Vessels and achieve Samuel’s revenge. When Susannah catches them flirting, she reminds Gray that feeding on students is not allowed outside of the “Reaping”—the periodic feeding of the Vessels via witches’ blood. Privately, Gray invokes dominium, declaring himself the Vessel who will be allowed to feed on Willow.

When Willow asks Gray his “true” name, he refuses to tell her because this would give her power over him. Willow notices a portrait of Lucifer, fallen from grace, hanging in Gray’s office, and he calls it a reminder that anyone, even the most beautiful, is capable of awful things. He wants her help to bring the Coven back to the old ways and restore the balance of power, and he offers her protection. They drink one another’s blood to seal the deal.

In history class, Susannah teaches students about Charlotte Hecate, who created Vessels. Susannah says that the only way to weaken Vessels is to limit their food. (The witches’ blood contains the magic that binds the demons’ souls to their Vessels.) Later, when a witch is found dead in the courtyard, Willow dreams of being chased and awakens to find a peculiar triangle carved into her back. Gray tells her that she now bears the devil’s mark and asks why Lucifer is interested in her. Willow feigns ignorance, and she and Gray become intimate. 

When Willow is shocked by the murdered witch’s improper burial, Susannah admits that the Coven is intentionally weakening the witches’ magic in order to weaken the Vessels who feed upon them. When Willow wants to tell the Coven about Susannah’s illicit plans, Susannah threatens to allow a male witch to rape her. Susannah becomes violent, and George brings Gray to intercede. Gray gives Willow more of his blood to heal her injuries and vows to kill Susannah slowly in retribution at the right time.

When Willow awakens, she and Gray become intimate, and he controls her sexual responses, only allowing her to orgasm when she begs. Willow’s roommate, Della, helps to prepare Willow for her first Reaping, during which she must submit to being fed upon by a Vessel. Della handcuffs and blindfolds her, then hoists her onto a hook. Willow is terrified by the cuffs and blindfold due to Samuel’s past abuses. When Gray arrives, he senses her terror and pledges to discover the details of her past trauma. That night, Willow finds a magical mirror in her room and sees Charlotte’s face in it. 

Gray tries to teach Willow how to protect herself in combat, and they spar in the courtyard. That night, Willow hears a voice calling her. Suddenly, Gray bursts in and tells her that a male witch was killed where she and Gray sparred earlier. Some students blame Willow for the deaths and beat her violently, but she does not fight back. Gray heals her again with his blood, calls her “love,” and claims to care about her. He also reveals that he has known about her dual lineages—as a Green witch and a Black witch—for a long time. She admits that she planned to use Loralei’s bones to “Unmake” him and all Vessels, but Gray insists that she loves him. They have sex—Willow for the first time—and Gray warns her that because she gave him her virginity, he will now become obsessed with her.

The next day, Gray gives her more blood, and they have sex several more times. When Willow goes to the garden, Susannah confronts Willow with the knowledge that she is Charlotte’s descendant and warns Willow away from Gray, telling her that Gray is in possession of Loralei’s bones. Susannah says that Willow’s dual nature—the capacity for life and death magic—was foretold and that her presence will initiate a horrifying future. She advises Willow to run, then allows the plants to drag her into the earth.

Willow does run but is pursued by the creatures that live in the forest. Gray rescues her. When she refuses to tell him why she ran, he reveals Loralei’s bones. Though she no longer wants them, Gray says that she has no choice; the bones assemble themselves around her neck, and she can feel her two sides: the green of life and the darkness of decay and death. When Kairos enters, she unmakes him with a touch, but she cannot unmake Gray, because they have shared too much blood. 

The Vessels dig up Susannah, and Gray forces Willow to destroy both her and George. Samuel and Ash enter, and Samuel is holding a knife to Ash. Beginning an obscure ritual, Gray slits the throats of several witches, and Juliet harvests their organs. Gray then stabs Willow, takes one of her ribs, and adds it to the collection of organs atop the mirror that Willow found. Suddenly, Charlotte appears and buries Samuel alive, then sends Ash away for his safety, telling Willow that her own appearance here is a gift from Willow’s “husband” (who is implied to be Lucifer himself). Gray admits to putting the devil’s mark on Willow when she was born. Charlotte opens a pit from which the archdemons of Hell emerge. Two of them carry a cot holding Lucifer’s lifeless body. Willow realizes that Gray is Lucifer. He orders her to put his soul back in his body, threatening to kill more witches if she refuses. She complies, placing one hand on Gray and the other on Lucifer. Gray’s Vessel falls to the floor, and Lucifer opens his eyes.